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By: Reading Rockets (2012)
Parents are a child's first teacher, and there are many simple things you can do every day to share the joy of reading while strengthening your child's literacy skills.
By: Reading Rockets (2011)
Preschool teachers and child care providers play a critical role in promoting literacy, preventing reading difficulties, and preparing young children for kindergarten. Learn more about the characteristics of a quality preschool program, activities that build a solid foundation for reading, and how to advocate for your preschool child if you suspect learning delays.
By: Reading Rockets (2011)
Discover the importance of early language, listening, and speaking on literacy development. If you suspect that your child or a student is struggling with speech, language, and/or hearing problems, learn more about testing and assessment, accommodations, and additional professional help. You'll also find tips on reading aloud with children who have speech and language problems or who are deaf or hard of hearing.
By: Reading Rockets (2011)
Learn more about how very young children acquire the language and phonemic awareness skills that will help them become strong readers, warning signs of delayed development, and how parents can support their child's literacy skills through meaningful conversation and read alouds.
By: What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education (2011)
The What Works Clearinghouse reviewed the research on two practices used in center-based settings with 3- to 5-year-old preK children, as well as a number of specific curricula. Positive results are shown for (1) Phonological awareness training and (2) Interactive and dialogic reading.
By: Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center (2010)
Learn about American Sign Language (ASL)/English bilingual programs to support the acquisition, learning, and use of ASL and English to meet the needs of diverse learners who are deaf and hard of hearing.
By: National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) (2010)
By: Reading Rockets (2010)
Letters are all around us! Here are some ideas to use print found in your everyday environment to help develop your child's reading skills.
By: Reading Rockets (2010)
It's important to remember that a lack of sleep can greatly impact your preschooler's behavior and ability to have a good day at preschool. Try this little experiment with your child to make sure they understand and maintain an appropriate sleep schedule.
By: Reading Rockets (2010)
As parent, you know how important it is to set aside some time everyday to read with your baby or toddler. But you also know how hard it can be for your child to sit still while you read together! If you've got a squiggler in your house, see if these tips help your reading time go a little more smoothly.
By: Reading Rockets (2009)
Even our youngest learners are exposed to math everyday. By providing an environment rich in language and where thinking is encouraged, you can help your preschooler develop important numeracy and literacy skills. Here are four everyday examples of ways to integrate language and math.
By: Reading Rockets (2009)
"Get Ready to Read" is a fast, free, research-based, and easy-to-use screening tool. It consists of 20 questions that parents and caregivers can ask a four-year-old to see if he or she is on track for learning how to read.
By: National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) (2009)
By: The National Early Literacy Panel (2009)
The National Early Literacy Panel looked at studies of early literacy and found that there are many things that parents and preschools can do to improve the literacy development of their young children and that different approaches influence the development of a different pattern of essential skills.
By: National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) (2009)
It's never too early to start looking for ways to help your child succeed in learning. This article covers children who are under 2 and who are in preschool. They have rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Find out the first steps to take if you suspect your child has difficulty learning.
By: Louisa Moats and Carol Tolman (2008)
Human brains are naturally wired to speak; they are not naturally wired to read and write. With teaching, children typically learn to read at about age 5 or 6 and need several years to master the skill.
By: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2008)
Every child is unique and has an individual rate of development. This chart represents, on average, the age by which most children will accomplish skills in hearing, understanding, and talking.
By: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2008)
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association offers these age-appropriate ways that parents can engage their young children to help develop speech and language abilities.
By: Reading Rockets (2008)
When engaging in writing, young children often mirror what they see around them; adults and older children writing lists, notes, text messaging. They are observing the way writing is used in our everyday lives. Here are some simple things families can do to support young children's writing.
By: Reading Rockets (2008)
Many New Year's resolutions focus on developing healthy habits. Here's one that is important to make and keep: provide a regular diet of books and reading for your preschooler. Try this menu of reading activities:
By: Reading Rockets (2007)
Focus on reading readiness and enjoy winter holidays at the same time with these simple activities you can incorporate into your preschooler's daily routine.
By: National Center for Family Literacy (2007)
Do you enjoy reading? Do you look at the newspaper? Read magazines? Go to the library? Chances are, if you do any of these activities, your preschool child is on his way to becoming a reader.
By: Reading Rockets (2007)
As a parent of a beginning reader, it's important to support your child’s reading efforts in a positive way and help them along the reading path. Here's a little information about beginning readers, and a few pointers to keep in mind.
By: Reading Rockets (2007)
Even the youngest child is somewhere on the path to becoming a reader. As a parent, it's important to support your child's efforts in a positive way and help him or her along the reading path. Here's a little information about emergent readers, and a few pointers to keep in mind.
By: Colorín Colorado (2007)
Knowing vocabulary words is key to reading comprehension. The more words a child knows, the better he or she will understand the text. Using a variety of effective teaching methods will increase the student's ability to learn new words.
By: Lea M. McGee and Judith Schickedanz (2007)
Research has demonstrated that the most effective read-alouds are those where children are actively involved asking and answering questions and making predictions, rather than passively listening. This article describes in detail a technique for a three-step interactive read-aloud using sophisticated storybooks.
By: FPG Child Development Institute (2007)
Can teachers and parents of preschoolers identify learning problems early enough to prevent problems later in school? The Recognition & Response model helps adults know what to look for and how to help, so that later remediation and special education may not be necessary.
By: Reading Rockets (2007)
Susan B. Neuman served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education where she helped establish the Reading First and Early Reading First programs. She is a professor in Educational Studies at the University of Michigan, specializing in early literacy development, and former director of the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Ability (CIERA).
By: Reading Rockets (2007)
Most words in a child's vocabulary come from everyday encounters with language. Children pick up language from books, media, and conversations with the people in their lives. Here are some ways you can increase your child's vocabulary and background knowledge, and strengthen the foundation for their reading success.
By: West Bloomfield Township Public Library (2006)
Don't forget to add non-fiction books to your reading routine! Kids can follow their own interests and learn about the world around them by reading about bugs, dinosaurs, or outer space. You can also use the information in books to do activities at home – make green eggs and ham like Sam I Am, or a newspaper hat like Curious George!
By: West Bloomfield Township Public Library (2006)
Talking to your child helps expand vocabulary, develop background knowledge, and inspire a curiosity about the world – all of which help with learning to read! Here are some simple activities you can do at home to get your child ready to read.
By: Mary Ruth Coleman, Virginia Buysse, and Jennifer Neitzel (2006)
Some young children show signs that they may not be learning in an expected manner, even before they begin kindergarten. These children may exhibit problems in areas such as language development, phonological awareness, perceptual-motor abilities, and attention, which have been considered precursors of learning disabilities in older children. However, under current state and federal guidelines, these children are unlikely to meet eligibility criteria for having a learning disability. This is because formal identification of a child's learning disability generally does not occur until there is a measurable discrepancy between the child's aptitude and academic achievement, often not until the second or third grade.
By: Susan Neuman (2006)
By: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2005)
Children pick up languages much more easily than adults. This article answers some common questions about raising bilingual children.
By: U.S. Department of Education (2005)
What's typical development? And what can parent do to be sure their child is getting the stimulation he or she needs? Here's a list of what to look for as a child learns and grows from infancy to preschool.
By: U.S. Department of Education (2005)
Here are three activities, designed to be fit easily into parents' daily routines, that can help babies learn and develop.
By: U.S. Department of Education (2005)
Here are some activities designed to be fun for both you and your toddler as well as to help your young child (ages 1 to 3) gain the skills needed to get ready for school.
By: U.S. Department of Education (2005)
These activities are for families and caregivers who want to help their preschool children to learn and to develop the skills necessary for success in school — and in life.
By: U.S. Department of Education (2005)
Long before your child enters school, you can do many things to help him or her develop language. When young children are provided with opportunities to listen to and use language constantly, they can begin to acquire the essential building blocks for learning how to read.
By: American Federation of Teachers (2004)
A look at three pivotal longitudinal studies that clearly show: Late bloomers are rare; skill deficits are almost always what prevent children from blooming as readers.
By: U.S. Department of Education (2004)
What parents do or don't do in the preschool years has a lasting impact on children's reading ability. Learn some facts about the importance and need for literacy experiences in the primary grades.
By: Kerry Hempenstall (2004)
This article explores what happens when three children with very different learning styles enter the classroom.
By: Marilyn J. Adams, Barbara Foorman, Ingvar Lundberg, and Terri Beeler (2004)
Activities that stimulate phonemic awareness in preschool and elementary school children are one sure way to get a child ready for reading! Here are eight of them from expert Marilyn Jager Adams.
By: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (2004)
Hearing the difference between similar sounding words such as grow and glow is easy for most children, but not for all children. Children who unable to hear these differences will be confused when these words appear in context, and their comprehension skills will suffer dramatically.
By: Reading Rockets (2004)
These four short video clips give you the chance to watch and learn effective speech sound activities. The video clips are from Reading Rockets' PBS television series Launching Young Readers. 
By: Reading Rockets (2004)
How can you help kids develop print awareness? Here are some sample questions and prompts you can use before, during, and after a read aloud activity to help children activate basic knowledge about print and books.
By: Reading Rockets (2004)
Children must understand how speech sounds work to be ready for instruction in reading and writing. There are many activities that you can do with your students to help them increase their knowledge of speech sounds and their relationship to letters.
By: Between the Lions (2003)
Creating a word family chart with the whole class or a small group builds phonemic awareness, a key to success in reading. Students will see how words look alike at the end if they sound alike at the end — a valuable discovery about our alphabetic writing system. They'll also see that one little chunk (in this case "-an") can unlock lots of words!
By: Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, and Linda Kucan (2002)
This article explains some of the ways that pre-kindergarten through elementary school teachers can enhance the vocabulary development of young children. It focuses on teaching words from texts that are read aloud to children rather than read by children, and it presents activities that take into account the kind of support that young children need to make sense of those words.
By: Texas Education Agency (2002)
Children's knowledge of letter names and shapes is a strong predictor of their success in learning to read. Knowing letter names is strongly related to children's ability to remember the forms of written words and their ability to treat words as sequences of letters.
By: Texas Education Agency (2001)
Print awareness is a child's earliest understanding that written language carries meaning. The foundation of all other literacy learning builds upon this knowledge. The following are guidelines for teachers in how to promote print awareness and a sample activity for assessing print awareness in young children.
By: Texas Education Agency (2001)
Children with print awareness can begin to understand that written language is related to oral language. Children who lack print awareness are unlikely to become successful readers. Indeed, children's performance on print awareness tasks is a very reliable predictor of their future reading achievement.
By: Judith Gold and Akimi Gibson (2001)
This article discusses the power of reading aloud and goes a step further to discuss the power of thinking out loud while reading to children as a way to highlight the strategies used by thoughtful readers.
By: Chia-Hui Lin (2001)
Teaching reading and writing to young children in American has always been an area of controversy and debate (Teale & Yokota, 2000), and it remains so today. The purpose of this article is to review various research studies and to identify essential elements of effective early literacy classroom instruction.
By: Andrea DeBruin-Parecki, Kathryn Perkinson, and Lance Ferderer (2000)
Identifying a reading problem is a challenge without a sense for what typical literacy development looks like. Find out what language accomplishments are typical for most children at the age of three to four.
By: Andrea DeBruin-Parecki, Kathryn Perkinson, and Lance Ferderer (2000)
Identifying a reading problem is a challenge without a sense for what typical literacy development looks like. Find out what language accomplishments are typical for most children from birth to age three.
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